What are Love Apples?
by Cherry Picking Poser
Summary: AU Gakuen Hetalia. Romano decides to audition for the school play as a sign of opportunity. Spain auditions to get closer to Romano. How will this play turn out?
1. Chapter 1

Bright light filtered through the air, making sunbeams float around in a dreamy way. Spain cupped Romano's chin on his two fingers and gazed handsomely into Romano's shining eyes. Then they broke their gaze as Spain gently kissed Romano on the lips.

Romano, for a long time I've wanted to tell you this and it's that I…"

_BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP…_

Romano's hand slammed his alarm clock and he gazed groggily at it: 9:26 AM. _Thank God, I thought I slept in again…_ Romano thought rubbing his bangs from his eyes. Then his face heated as he tumbled to the ground ruffling his hair messily. _GAAAAAHHHH! I had that dream AGAIN! Why is always like this…? What does it mean? And…and…_ Romano's face burned before he could continue the thought.

_DAMNIT! I'm going to eat some breakfast to forget this crap!_ Romano thought, dashing down the stairs hurriedly. He smelled the wonderful aromas of tomatoes, Italian herbs, and eggs. His little brother Italy was wearing a green checked apron and humming a cheery tune as he was sizzling eggs on a frying pan.

Romano gave off a small smile. For once, this was something he loved his brother for: He cooked really delicious meals. Italy turned as Romano's foot creaked on a loose floorboard.

"Oh! Romano, you're finally awake! I'm almost done with breakfast so go sit down while I finish this!" Italy said in his bright, bubbly tone.

"Ok…"

Romano sat himself down at their small dining table and waited for his little brother to finish cooking breakfast. Sunlight gently filtered through the orange splash curtains letting sunbeams dance on the carpet of the living room. The air was filled with the sweet scent of tomatoes and Romano breathed in its rich scent.

Yeah…this can't get any better than it is now….

Three loud knocks echoed through the house. Romano jumped from smelling roasting tomatoes. Who could be here at this early hour? Italy began scrambling to turn off the stove dial but Romano stopped him by saying, "You finish breakfast, I'll get the door."

Romano opened the door and an eager body fell into Romano to give him a tight embrace. "Wha-! SPAIN?" Romano yelped. "Aww!~ It's so good to see you again, Romano!~ I've come to have breakfast with you guys!~" Spain cooed squeezing Romano so tight Romano thought he might start internally bleeding.

"LET ME GO, YOU BASTARD!" Romano shouted. He escaped Spain's almost impossible bear hug and ran to wear Italy stood, fumbling with the stove dial still. Romano sighed and turned it off for his brother. "Ah! Thanks, Romano," Italy said, relief filling his voice. He turned around and saw Spain closing their apartment door. "Spain-neesan!" Italy cried happily. "Ita-chan!~" Spain exclaimed. Italy ran to Spain and gave him a big hug, equally as tight as Spain had done to Romano. Spain returned the hug and squeezed, hard. "Spain! I feel like I can't breathe anymore!" Italy said, his voice muffled against Spain's shirt.

"Oops! Sorry, Ita-chan, I lost myself a bit there! I didn't mean to! It's just that I haven't seen you both for a looooong~ time," Spain smiled his bright, passionate trademark smile.

"Spain-neechan, do you want to eat breakfast with us this morning?" Italy asked. Romano's rare good mood fell into his stomach. _Why? Just when things are starting to go good, everything has to be ruined by that tomato bastard, URGH!_ Romano was screaming in his head. Romano silently fumed as Spain flung himself in one of the spare chairs near the table.

Romano scowled and sat himself down reluctantly. He was really hungry now and that didn't help with his mood at all.

"Hey, Italy! Are you finished cooking the food yet?" Romano called. "Yup! Almost finished, Romano!" Italy replied cheerily. Romano's stomach growled in response. Romano blushed and smacked his stomach instinctively. Spain chuckled. "Your face is as bright as a tomato again, Romano~"

"SHUT UP!" Romano cried. He touched his cheek and sure enough, it was really, really warm. "Here you go, Romano! I hope you enjoy it~ve~" Italy said placing a big plate of tomato omelets and buttered pasta in front of his older brother. Romano jumped, not thinking that his little brother would finish up so fast.

"We're all having the same thing, Spain-neesan, so I hope you don't mind," Italy said. "Oh, I don't mind at all, Ita-chan! You're cooking's so delicious!~" Spain chirped. "If Spain-neesan likes it, that's all that matters! I want my cooking to make the people I love happy~" Italy replied.

"Even me…?" Romano absently whispered. "Of course you, Romano! You're the best older brother ever!~"Italy cried, hugging Romano tightly. Romano felt his heartstrings pull from such brotherly love.

"A-ah, I'm glad, you're really important to me too, Italy," Romano barely whispered, his face feeling hot again. "Ve~" Italy said contently. Romano could hear a quick click and a saw a flash of silver light.

"WHA-? SPAIN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Romano shrieked, shaking out of Italy's embrace. Italy backed away, just in case his older brother began using violence.

Spain smiled behind his bright red camera. "Sorry!~ It's just that you guys looked so cute, hugging each other and all that! I had to capture it into a photo!~"

Romano scowled and trumped to his room. He splayed himself onto his bed, knocking over pillows and scattered books. Italy was worriedly calling Romano's name over and over again and Romano didn't want to hear any of it. His morning ruined by that tomato bastard downstairs and his breakfast was still, half-eaten.

Italy probably thought Romano had closed his door since he was still downstairs and didn't bother to check him. And he probably thought Romano had buried his head under his mountain of huge pillows to drown out any sound because he spoke loudly as usual and profusely apologized in advance for Romano's behavior. Romano scowled and dug his fingers deep into one of his pillows.

Spain, as usual, forgave Romano and kept on constantly reassuring Italy was totally fine. Italy finally felt reassured and Spain left their house. When Romano heard the door give a click Romano scrambled downstairs and sat himself down at the table again.

"Spain said he was sorry for taking our picture, Romano," Italy said, washing the dishes. "He promised he would delete the photo when he got home."

Romano rolled his eyes. Knowing Spain, he wouldn't do that at all. He would surely save it into one of his secret file folders and view every day for the rest of his messed up life. "Oh…ok, whatever, then."

"Do you want me to reheat your food, Romano?" Italy asked, turning around and wiping his hands on his damp apron. "No thanks," Romano replied. He picked up his fork and took a bite. The food tasted much better cold in his opinion.

It was now Monday and it was time to go back to school as usual again. Romano sighed as he and Italy walked to Hetalia Academy. There was nothing interesting happening right now and they both at least remembered to do all their homework. Even though the students were all allowed to pick most of their classes, Romano didn't feel excited today. Maybe it was because Italy and Spain were almost in all his classes.

Romano breezed through the day, paying attention to the teacher and working hard on the things the teacher gave them to practice. Soon, it was time for lunch and Romano was starved. He bought himself some tomato pizza, bottled water, and some snacks. He then went out and ate leaning against his familiar tree.

Lunch was the usual, he sat by himself and no one came to eat with him. He didn't need to tell them 'no', No one can mess with Romano Italy.

With his belly full and his mind feeling refreshed, Romano was anticipating the only class he had left: Art. He had it 2 times a day, and he couldn't enjoy it enough. Although he knew Italy's art skills were much, much better than him, he enjoyed doing art anyways, since it was fun and enjoyable to him, either way.

Fate was being a kind mistress to him today since their teacher decided it might be a good idea to change seats. Romano sighed with relief, he had to sit next to Italy and Spain. Italy was possibly the best artist in the class and Spain's art was not that bad either. The two always made Romano doubt his own art skills. Now he sat next to France and Japan. Italy was next to Japan and Spain was all the way on the other side of the room. Romano felt himself tense up as France sat down next to him on his right. The man was known for advancing on almost everyone and _everyone_ knew that France always had ulterior motives up his sleeve for practically everyone.

Romano did like Japan though. The guy was quiet and polite, and he gave good advice to people and many people sought out the Japanese man for his knowledge in many subjects. The only thing that Romano didn't get was how emotionless and blank he looked, you could never tell what Japan was thinking even his eyes gave a calm, poised look. Romano certainly didn't mind Japan sitting next to him he was worried about the Frenchman on his right, though.

"Ah~ It's so nice to be able to sit with you, Romano~" France said, giving him a wide, grinning smile. "You better not harass me anytime during this class, it's my favorite, and if you do, you'll regret it for the rest of your goddamn life," Romano growled. France held his hands up in surrender. "Romano, I have nothing planned for you _yet_~" France replied. Romano scowled and turned away from him. The teacher began to tell the class what the current project they were working on was.

The project was simple: Paint something you love. It didn't matter how many things you put in, it had to be things you loved or really much liked. Romano knew right away what to paint. He dipped his paintbrush in bright red paint and began painting strokes into his canvas. Romano decided to be friendly and strike up a short conversation with the Japanese man. "Hey, Japan," Romano said, as friendly as possible.

Japan turned to face Romano. "Hello, Romano." Romano took the chance to peer over to Japan's painting. It was beautiful: There was a glowing red sun above a bumpy purple mountain, many dishes of traditional Japanese food, his dog, Pochi, and many people that looked like characters that came out of manga and anime.

"Your painting looks really great," Romano commented, nodding his head. Japan gave a small smile. "Thank you, these are some of my favorite things." The Japanese man looked over at Romano's painting. "I love how you emphasize your tomatoes they look really life-like. Are you planning to paint anything else?" Romano nodded again. "Yes, I'll add in some pizza and pasta dishes I love and many of my favorite sites in South Italy."

Japan nodded his head. "That sounds wonderful. I'll leave you to it." Japan smiled warmly and turned back to his painting and began resuming his work. Romano could feel an uneasy aura rising from the right side of his painting station. Romano tilted his head slightly and eyed France from the corner of his eye. The Frenchman was pouting stubbornly and was carefully making elegant strokes with his teal-colored paintbrush. Romano sighed and turned to him.

"So, what are you painting, France?" Romano asked, trying to keep his cool down. France looked back at the rather calm Italian staring uneasily at him and gave a shocked look of surprise.

"Well~ Since you asked, my dear friend, have a look!~" France waved his arms dramatically at his painted canvas.

Romano gawked in awe as he stared at France's painting. It was _beautiful. _Too beautiful! In poetic stance, it would be like France had etched his heart and soul in this very painting! The first thought Romano thought was, _"Damn…I never knew France could paint something so damn beautiful…"_ and then… _"Wait a second! This is the beardo bastard we're talking about here! But…but…I can't doubt his skill…It really is enchanting…that painting…" _

"So what do you think, Romano? I think it came out quite nice in my opinion…" France said, puffing out his chest triumphantly.

"It looks like crap." Romano lied. France honestly looked hurt. "B-b-but, I guess it looks good…in a way…" Romano added. France's mood immediately brightened and he smiled widely at Romano. In the painting, there was a close-up of a café table draped with a pure white cloth with a steaming cup of coffee on the table accompanied with a buttered croissant with a clear vase filled with a single red rose bending toward the plate. In the background were breezes of roses floating by, and the sun and clouds glow in the background. And there is a suspicious character looking like he had no clothes on, having a rose covering his manhood, and had cat ears and a cat tail crawling up the Eiffel Tower.

"An original masterpiece if I do say myself~" France mused, rubbing his chin. "Original, huh…?" Romano said.

France began sighing contently at his painting and Romano was getting the signal that it was time to get back to work. He plopped back on his stool and began resuming to painting on his canvas. Romano got lost in thought as he put careful strokes to make the tomatoes look realistic and added shadows to create depth to the painting. He also was drenched in doubt if his painting was ok. Neither Japan nor France commented on his painting. Romano felt lost on what they could be thinking on his painting.

Soon, art class ended and it was time to go home. Romano sighed happily and gathered all his things together. He vaguely remembered this morning that Italy had told him that he was going to walk with Germany today. Although Romano still hated the potato idiot, he didn't object. Romano was walking in a slightly crowded hallway until a poster caught his eye.

It was advertising auditions on this year's school play. Hetalia Academy wasn't strict on having only the chorus members allowed to join. In Hetalia Academy, anyone was allowed to. Romano headed toward the auditorium. He saw the many sign-up sheets plastered on the wall. He read the instructions and rules on the play. It was going to be 'Sleeping Beauty'.

Romano held in a laugh. The academy wasn't that creative on school plays, were they? Maybe being in the play would be fun. It held a lot of opportunity in it, too. Romano thought for a minute. He read the list of roles and decided to go onto stage crew. He took a pen out of his bag and wrote his name under 'Stage Crew'. He didn't use pencil since someone can come up and erase his name and put him on a different role.

Romano looked at the list again and felt satisfied. He put his pen back into his bag and went out of the school. Someone had watched him, scratch that, _three_ people had been watching and they dashed to the audition sheets. They wrote their names in the roles they wanted and went out of the school, snickering. The auditions were going to be held on Wednesday. It was going to be interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

**We peek into the lives of the yaoi fan trio as I write a snippet of their lives in this second chapter. Hints of AmericaxEngland. Please enjoy!~ Sorry for not updating for a while, I'll continue to update my other stories when I have the time. Hetalia doesn't belong to me. **

It was lunchtime in the Hetalia Gakuen Academy. At this moment, quiet and reframed Japan was contently eating his boxed lunch while reading some _intense_ yaoi manga. Of course he was smart enough to cover up the highly graphic cover with a fake cover depicting a boy riding his bicycle around a worn picket fence.

Japan ate another spoonful of rice and turned the page of his book. SS was about to get it down _hard_ with **! He couldn't wait to witness that delicious segment of the thriller yaoi manga.

"I see you got a new yaoi book recently, how is it?" someone was peering over his shoulder.

Japan jolted in his seat and looked up. Then he gave a sigh of relief. "Ah, it's only you, Taiwan-san."

"So?~ How is it, Japan?" Taiwan asked excitedly. She was literally jumping up and down next to his desk.

"Delicious, it certainly is a wonderful treasure to behold," Japan replied, nodding his head agreeably.

Taiwan inched closer to Japan tentatively. Japan looked up at her expectantly.

"Japan~ Do you think I could borrow it after you're done with, please?" Taiwan asked.

"Of course, tell Hungary-san if she would be interested in this one if you see her next time, ok?" Japan replied.

"Yes, yes! I'll keep my eyes peeled in the hallways for Hungary-san, Japan," Taiwan exclaimed, nodding her head vigorously.

"Have you eaten, Taiwan-san?" Japan asked, picking up an omelet between his chopsticks.

"Yeah, I finished quickly so I could get out of my room and talk to you, Japan," Taiwan said, looking away shyly.

"Thanks, it's always great when you visit, I'm sorry I can't visit you often," Japan said, feeling his cheeks heat up slightly.

Taiwan shook her head quickly. "No, it's alright, Japan, I love visiting you, but please visit me when you have time, 'kay?"

Japan simply nodded. Japan had finished his lunch and packed it away into his backpack which was studded with many buttons he'd collected from various conventions he'd visited. He lingered his lithe fingers over the button promoting a lovely picture of America and England in a loving embrace.

Japan slung his backpack over his back and looked over at Taiwan before pushing his chair in his desk.

"Would you like to come with me and explore the hallways for any yaoi moments, Taiwan?" Japan asked, taking out his pristine, black Canon camera.

Taiwan squealed with delight. "Would I? Of course, yes!"

She whipped out her small silver digital camera and linked arms with Japan as they marched out of the classroom.

Japan and Taiwan went around the many hallways in the very large and spacious academy. There were some times that they witnessed a 'yaoi' moment, or more accurate, a 'shounen-ai' moment. In anyway, they snapped up some pretty nice pics which made them pretty content, but not yet satisfied.

While they browsed around, pretending to be casual, non-noticing passerby, while they actually were hungry yaoi fans scouting every moment between two males in the hallways.

They had seen England running his finger up and down America's uniform, disregarding it's 'too casual look for a prestigious school'. Both Japan and Taiwan snapped a few shots before dashing off before America and England knew what was coming.

D-d-did I just see a flash somewhere…?" England asked.

"Beats me," America answered. "We better get back to class, huh?"

"Oh…yeah, I guess you're right, and don't follow me, you git." England said, glancing over his shoulder.

America scowled and pulled his arms behind his head. "We're both in the same class next period, moron."

Then the both of them walked side by side to head to their world history class.

"Where exactly are we, Taiwan? I don't remember heading to this hallway…" Japan said, looking around nervously at the different-styled walls in the hallways they were currently walking through.

"Oh, we're in the music hall, Japan," Taiwan answered casually. "Oh, hey, look, here are auditions for the newest play this year, this year's play is 'Sleeping Beauty'."

"Sleeping Beauty? Who is the perfect yaoi pairing we can pair up to be the prince and the sleeping princess? We've been raving a lot lately for AmericaxEngland, let's pick another couple to strengthen their bonds," Japan said, clenching his hands tightly and waving them fanatically.

"You're right! Who do you think would be the perfect couple, Japan?" Taiwan said, poking her finger near her chin.

Before any of them could make a decision, Hungary came bounding by, excitement filling her pretty face.

"Oh! You guys found out about the play already, I see!" Hungary cried.

Taiwan and Japan both nodded.

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin', right?~" Hungary cooed.

Now, Taiwan and Japan were nodding their heads off like crazy bobble-head figurines.

"I know the perfect couple we can focus on this week: Spamano!~"

"Perfection, Hungary-san! PERFECTION!" Japan cried. His Otaku side was taking over his quiet, refined self.

"Wonderful choice, Hungary-san! Oblivious, friendly idiot x Violent, adorable secretly caring Tsunaho, pure genius!~" Taiwan raved, clapping her hands excitedly.

Hungary puffed her well-endowed chest. "My pleasure, my yaoi fan friends."

Hungary walked closely to the audition sheet. "Hey~ There's also a sheet on who to vote on if we prefer someone to do a specific role."

Sparks flew between the trio and they couldn't wait for the audition results to come out next week.

**What did did you think of this chapter? Please comment and review!**


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